With the entire winter Phish tour being sold out, many fans are left with front row seats at their computers, checking the setlists and rooting for the band to perform magic on the stage. Looking on the screen and judging a show "on paper" by the length of time a song was played, any rarities, segues, and special guests; fans have come stringent upon expecting the unexpected. As the band rolled into Worcester for their first New England show in two and a half years, an aura of nostalgia was in the air. The Centrum has provided it's share of legenday shows from New Years Eve 1993/94, the "Bathtub Gin>Real Me" jam of 1995, the hour long "Runaway Jim" of 1997 and the unsurpassed "Wipe Out" show of 1998.
From the opening organ notes of "You Enjoy Myself", the crowd knew the boys meant business, and were taking their return to Massachusetts seriously. Hearing "YEM" is a treat in itself, but as the opener, it wasn't something the crowd was ready for, as people typically find themselves hustling about and getting settled after the initial dimming of the lights. The jam produced puddles of clavinet heavy funk, thanks to Page McConnell and saw Trey Anastasio's orgasmic guitar crescendo lead the tune into a short vocal jam that teased Mike Gordon/Leo Kottke's "Clone". Sure enough, next song in, the band when into "Clone", nailed it perfectly and got the crowd thinking..."that's unusual". The band talked previously about adding their solo material to the Phish mix, but nothing so far had been presented live from their hiatus projects. "Roggae" defined its role as a slow number presenting the crowd and the band a catch of breath. Next, the band went into another debut - "Drifting" from Trey's solo album, and had me thinking, "are we onto something here?" The uplifting tune proved that the four-piece Phish can superbly pull off one of Trey's large solo band orchestrated pieces. "Blue Skies" from Jon Fishman's side band Pork Tornado followed, oddly enough. A country tune sung by Fishman, kept the set rolling and had the fans thinking, "Allright, three solo project songs down, when's the Vida Blue song due?" Instead, the band dropped into the thick funk of "Moma Dance". Since it's "Black Eyed Katy" days the song has not stretched out into unexplored potential. What you hear is what you get; as its always the time to put your freak on and get down and dirty with "The Dance". The unexplored potential reared it funky destination as a lengthy Moma jam evolved into a loop filled space odyssey. Sure enough, the Vida Blue tune poked it's sound around the corner, and "Final Flight", perhaps the most overlooked song on the debut album from Page McConnell's side project made its first Phish appearance. The foursome pulled this one off as well, and Trey seemed to be enjoying this number while spearing a soaring solo and sporting a cheshire cat grin. The set closer "Maze" caught fire and the band melted it to pieces; as Trey rifled the song through it's hair raising buildups; which reflected upon his finest Oysterhead achievements. As the set ended, the main course had already been served and dessert was merely on its way.
The art rock instrumental "Stash" quickly got the fans back on their feet, as Page once again let his fingers dance on the Hohner Clavinet allowing Trey to growl on his guitar and haul the song back into a climatic ending that dipped in the vain of "David Bowie" finale waters. A bouncy bass line led into the space funk classic "Ghost". The song once played heavy in 1997-98 is now becoming a rare find, but never fails to get the crowd "pimping". This version was one for the space ages, as it featured another Page heavy Clavinet lead and Gordon holding the fort down on the four string. Bouncing its way through a loopy heavy funk jam; it eventually led into a more "pop" friendly beat which sunk into the War classic "Low Rider". The crowd was roaring as if Kid Rock had just strutted to the stage, but the band didn't need any guests to prove that this Worcester show was something special. "Makisupa Policeman" followed with the keywords of "Woke up this morning, policeman came knocking on my door and my hotel was burning down." This was in reference to the fire in the Cincinnati Westin last week as hundreds of fans, including the band had to be evacuated in the early hours of the morning. Keeping the island flavor groove flowing, the band jumped into a solid version of "Yamar". With a lengthy first set and set break, the clocks read close to 11:15; a time the band usually leaves for their encore, but we were soon to find out the night was still young as the band kicked into the fugue epic, "Guyute". The tune wove through its complex sections, and provoked you to ask, "Who writes rock music like this?" "Waves" kept the set rolling and led into a refreshing "Prince Caspian". As the ending of "Caspian" was revolving to the exits, the band hit the start pedal and the blitzkrieg assault of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" took the room by storm. Enough is enough, already as the band had proved their point... they are back and you can never underestimate the power of Phish on a good night. Low and behold, there was room for one more and "Golgi Apparatus" had the crowd begging for mercy. A jammed out "Loving Cup" provided a high-energy finale as the clocks read 12:15, a seldom post midnight venture on a weeknight in an arena.
Once again, the band proved to their fans that some shows aren't just shows but rewards for making it through the down times and off nights. The show debuted four new songs to the catalog, the largest night of new original material since June 14, 1997 in Dublin Ireland- for those keeping track. With only two shows left on the current tour, Wednesday's show proved Phish caught a vibration of cohesive energy and spontaneity that one can only hope resounds forward to the yet announced summer tour.
Photos courtesy of Adam Foley http://www.adamfoley.com/
